“Once upon a time,” begins Paterno the Philippine Eagle, “a long time ago when these vehicles that fly in the air only traveled on the ground, a time when the homo sapiens would use as much land, electricity and water as they wanted, our people fought extinction. The year was 2010. Back then I was a fledgling like some of you here.” He said looking down at the group of Eagles and their young gathered around him.
“At the height of these troubled times there were only 500 of us. Mothers, fathers and children died. No one was discriminated when it came to clearing our homes. We had to abandon our homes for tall glassy buildings that would soar up into the sky. We had to leave our homes for the homo sapien’s farms and for their large mining companies. My wife, Imelda- she was very sick in those years. She couldn’t give birth. The doctors said that the accumulation of pesticides might have been responsible for her infertility. Not only were our homes being destroyed, invaded and degraded but we were also being hunted. Our people have not seen such a hard time… and I think I can say that we never will.
“Who saved us?” Piped up a fledgling.
“It was the homo sapiens.”
“But they’re not one of us.”
“They didn’t have to be Pito. They recognized our need and worked together to protect us. For a while, they thought our group would never fully recover, but here I am and here are all of you. Can you imagine that once we were confined to the larger islands of the Philippines, Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao. Look at us now. Now, we can really soar.”
